


Not On My Watch

by BambiRex



Series: Garden Lodge Family Shenanigans [5]
Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bullying, F/F, Layla is a protective big sister and we stan, Slapping, don't worry everyone is alright, fem!queen, king!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:22:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25802062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BambiRex/pseuds/BambiRex
Summary: Layla is fierce.
Relationships: Jim Hutton/Freddie Mercury
Series: Garden Lodge Family Shenanigans [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1767487
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	Not On My Watch

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a hot minute, I know. But at least I got something done, even if it's short and silly!

To say that Freddie was surprised when they got a call from the kids’ school informing them that Layla got into a fight, was an understatement. Honestly, Freddie was looking around for the prank cameras, because there was no way this was real. She almost asked the headmaster if he actually had the right number, and didn’t actually call the wrong parents.

Layla was an often over-excited, extroverted little kid who enjoyed being the center of attention, but she has never gotten into fights before. She was pretty much a ray of sunshine all the time, sweet and bubbly, which attributes made her the favorite of many teachers quickly. Something really, really awful had to have happened for Layla Mercury-Hutton to use physical violence on one of her classmates. She simply wasn’t wired that way: violence was not in her nature. But something set her off that day, and Freddie felt icy cold dread run over her body at trying to imagine what it could be.

’’What the hell could have possibly happened?” Jane frowned as they got into the car. She was just as dumbfounded over the situation as Freddie was. She nearly broke the key as she tried to start the car, swearing under her breath.

’’I don’t know.” Freddie sighed, leaning her head against the glass of the window. This was such a ridiculous idea, to think that Layla would ever hit anyone, and a very frightening one at that. Freddie was almost one-hundred percent sure that whatever happened, it wasn’t her daughter’s fault. Maybe it was the biased mother inside her that didn’t even want to think about her baby doing anything bad, or maybe it was just common sense speaking up and telling her that someone must have done something genuinely awful to Layla. And if they hurt her daughter? Then they had all the wrath of a worried mother coming, and that was just Freddie herself. Jane looked plenty pissed too, so it would be a double dynamite exploding.

’’I refuse to believe she actually hurt someone.” Jane said, articulating exactly what Freddie was thinking as well. She shook her head, that deep frown still on her face. ’’Layla is not violent.”

’’Of course not.” Freddie replied, placing a hand on Jane’s knee to placate her. ’’I think someone provoked her.”

Jane hummed, before letting out a deep sigh. There was an emotion swirling in her eyes, one that Freddie recognized well. Jane wouldn’t have had to speak for her to know right away what she was thinking.

’’Do you think someone said something about us?”

Freddie didn’t reply for a few seconds. That was something they were both afraid of: even though people were more accepting of same-sex parents now, there were still many who frowned upon them. Kids only needed to overhear one snarky comment from their homophobic parents, and that was enough to change their entire view on their own classmates. Kids were too impressionable at that age: their opinions were formed almost solely by their parents, and the idea of one of Layla’s classmates poking fun at the fact that Layla had two mothers, unfortunately sounded very likely. And considering how much Layla loved them, it made sense for her to blow up at someone over this.

’’Maybe.” Freddie sighed, watching the trees run by them as they drove towards the kids’ school. Whatever the reason was, Freddie just hoped her daughter was okay.

\--

They were suprised to find not only their daughter, but their son sitting in the headmaster’s office as well. Mr. Lester didn’t mention anything over the phone about Gabriel being involved as well, and this new information made Freddie’s pulse skyrocket.

’’What happened?” She blurted out. Layla looked up, and gave her a small smile. She didn’t seem to feel guilty, at all. Gabriel was half-curled around his sister, hiding his face in her chest. There was another little boy sitting across them, with a sullen look on his face. His parents looked the guiltiest out of the whole bunch.

’’Please, take a seat.” Mr. Lester said, gesturing at the empty chairs next to Gabriel and Layla. Freddie and Jane sat, shooting each other and their kids questioning glances.

Mr. Lester, a man in his fifties that looked constantly tired, looked over the people in the room before he started speaking.

’’As I have informed you, your daughter has gotten into a fight with Darren. No injuries happened, luckily, as we managed to step in quickly enough, but you still need to know that our school’s policy doesn’t allow violence in any shape or form.”

’’We understand.” Jane said, cutting before Freddie who looked like she was about to scream the head of Mr. Lester off. ’’And we’re sorry for the inconvenience.” She turned to Layla, giving her a look that was a mix of stern and warm, not trying to scare her daughter, but making sure she would know this was not right.

’’Layla, what exactly happened?”

’’It was a mistake.” Darren’s mother chimed in, not giving Layla a chance to explain. She gave Jane a forced smile. ’’Our son has made a comment, and your daughter got mad a little bit. I hope we can understand that both children were at fault, right?”

’’We would understand, if we actually knew what happened.” Freddie huffed. Her eyes softened when she looked at her kids. She reached out to ruffle Gabriel’s hair.

’’Darlings, what happened here?”

Layla’s arms tightened around Gabriel, as if trying to shield him. She sent a pointed look at Darren, who shrunk several inches in his chair.

’’He made fun of Gabriel.” She said, voice full of all the righteous anger of a ten years-old little girl who loved her little brother a lot. ’’And he pushed him.”

Freddie barely managed to fight off the urge to snarl. She tried to remain the rational adult that she was, instead of the bloodthirsty amazon who wanted to tear everyone who dared hurt her child into pieces. She took deep breaths to calm herself. Freaking out Layla, and especially Gabriel wasn’t the best idea right now.

’’He laughed at the way he talks.” Layla continued, anger burning in her deep brown eyes. ’’He laughed, and he made Gabriel cry.”

Jane and Freddie shared a look. None of them needed to say anything to know what the other was thinking. Gabriel had a slight speech defect; he often lisped and stuttered, and his asthma sometimes made it harder for him to get through long sentences without gasping for air, especially when he was nervous. Freddie knew exactly what her son was going through: she struggled with the same things, and was severely bullied for them, amongst other things. She didn’t want to see the same thing happening to any of her kids.

’’…and so I slapped him.” Layla admitted with an impish look. The headmaster sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

’’You see, this is not right, and it’s important we teach our kids violence is not the answer.” Before Freddie or Jane could cut in, he turned to Darren’s parents.

’’But we also have to teach our kids to be more acceptive of their peers. Bullying doesn’t have a place in this school, either.”

Darren hang his head, and his father shook his head, looking very disappointed with his son.

’’We are really sorry, for what has happened.” He said, looking at the other couple apologetically. ’’We will make sure he won’t do this again. But at the same time, you really need to teach your daughter not to slap anyone.”

Freddie wanted to add ’’unless they deserve to be slapped”, but she figured it was better not to make this into a bigger issue. They were lucky enough that the bully’s parents saw the wrongs done by their son, and didn’t try to blame it all on Layla. It was probably better if they left this office in peace.

’’Noted.” Jane replied. Gabriel was still clinging to Layla, but he seemed a little more relaxed now, and Layla also didn’t look like she was about to throw Darren out the window.

They got away with it fairly fine: taking Layla’s young age into consideration, Mr. Lester decided not to punish her. Both her and Darren were warned that next time something like this happens, there will be consequences; Darren was made to apologize to Gabriel, and the parents shook hands. As dramatic as the whole ordeal started, it ended quite peacefully.

’’On one hand, we are proud of you for standing up for your brother.” Jane said after they got in the car, patting Layla’s hair. ’’That was a really brave thing to do. But you can’t slap people, Layla.”

’’I know.” Layla said, finally sounding a little guilty. Gabriel was still cuddled up to her, seeking out her comfort. He seemed to have regressed a little bit after everything that happened, which made a lot of sense. Thank God his sister was there to keep him safe.

’’But he hurt Gabriel, and no one hurts my brother. Not on my watch.” Layla said defiantly, kissing the top of Gabriel’s head.

Freddie and Jane shared a smile. While it was definitely wrong that their daughter hit someone, they couldn’t help but feel proud. Layla never cared that she wasn’t Gabriel’s biological sister: she loved him dearly, and she had proved today that she would always keep him safe, making use of that promise she made the day Gabriel was brought home.

And to see that pure love between siblings? It was worth slapping an entitled kid for.

**Author's Note:**

> If you have a certain scenario that you would like me to turn into a fic for the series, you can suggest it here in the comments or on my tumblr, bambirexwrites, and I'll add it to the list! :))


End file.
